The real Champagne

Yesterday we took a day away from Paris and into the country to explore the Champagne region. After watching the manual labour involved in one small exclusive winery, we appreciated why the price can be so high. This winery which has been in the same family for centuries is run by a couple, who do everything to a specific process including turning their 60,000 bottle production by hand. One example of their manual work -during the wine maturation process they have to regularly rotate 700 bottles a day in the cellar racks! Their 4 hectares of grapes are located in one of the 'premium' areas, and the hand-crafted champagne produced by their labours of love is one of the best I have ever tasted. We bought 4 bottles of 2004 premium vintage champagne for 80 Euros to help us along our journey!